Kiki Dee and Carmelo Luggeri
Venue: 1719 Holy Trinity ChurchTown: Sunderland
Date: 23rd March 2024
Website: https://www.kikiandcarmelo.com/
This was my first visit to Sunderland's brand new venue, a historic Church restored and given a new lease of life. Apparently the most asked questions are why it is named as it is and when it was built. I'll let you work those two out...
The interior of the church is beautiful, the stage the altar, which somehow seems fitting; I often consider a gig to be like church and songs like prayers.
As Kiki and Carmelo took to the altar - I mean the stage, Kiki stepped forwards to offer a warm greeting. She looked nowhere near her 77 years and extremely smart in a striking black suit, which she later revealed to be her "Elton John suit" that she wore when she played with him. She then explained that she and guitarist Carmelo, her musical partner for over 30 years, would be taking us on a 'musical journey', featuring songs from the last 50 years of her career. She wasn't wrong.
Some songs saw Kiki take to the keyboard and others she stepped to the front of the stage with just her mic. At one point, Carmelo gave a fascinating, if slightly long, demonstration of how he uses the many loops to add layers to the music. Clever stuff!
Over the course of two sets, the pair played songs from across her/ their career. Introduced as 'The Song', Don't Go Breaking My Heart, her famous duet with Elton John from 1976. Whilst a much more mellow, acoustic, version, it still gave me chills to actually hear it live.
Small Mercies, from last year's album, a song about human kindness, prompted a story about how it has struck a chord, so to speak, in Ukraine. Kate Bush's Running up that hill follows, sounding very different, yet still instantly recognisable. Robert Palmer's Every Kinda People was an interesting inclusion and and Neil Young's Harvest Moon felt ethereal, under the high ceilings of the church, especially when she asked the audience to join her at the end.
The second half offered Amoreuse, Amen and Goodbye Forward Motion and I got the music in me. At one juncture, whilst Carmelo played, Kiki, demonstrating just how much she wished to engage with her audience, stepped out to the front and invited someone up to dance with her. As she posed for a photo, she smiled and said "Thankyou". What a lovely lady.
The highlight of the whole show for me, came in the encore; Kiki's first ever song Loving and Free, written when she was just twenty one, was exquisite - Carmelo's subtle guitar allowed her voice to shine through. They chose Blackbird to draw the evening to a close, before receiving a standing ovation.
A lovely night of music in a lovely new venue. There are most definitely worse ways to spend a Saturday night!
Helen Mitchell
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